an ode to the parking lot
It's so beautiful to us how the Bible is constantly showing us a God who asks us questions with kindness and compassion. When Adam and Eve sinned they weren't shamed, instead they were invited to answer a question about where they were. When Moses was adamant that he was the wrong guy for the job he was met with the question, "What's in your hand?" The answer was simple - it was a stick. God used that stick in the rest of the story to show a clear picture that a stick is not just a stick when it's used as a tool in God's redemptive story.
UCA is growing, we need more space. We had a rock solid plan for adding more classrooms to our campus until some grown-ups let us know about all these rules and regulations that will cost the school way more than expected to adhere to. The biggest challenge is a parking lot. The city requires more paved parking surfaces in order for us to expand. Parking lots are expensive - like really really mind-blowing expensive.
We started thinking about our current parking lot. It's paved with six parking spots. It's simple. It's not fancy or perfect, but it's ours and it's enough. As we kept thinking about paved parking surfaces all these images starting coming to mind and we were humbled as we realized that our parking lot isn't just a parking lot.
Our little parking lot has served as our sanctuary, our dance hall, our banquet room, our art studio, our living room, our ice cream shop, and our loading dock for all our best adventures. It's been a faithful playground and community meeting space. It's been the first sacred place the feet of every one of our guests has touched.
This parking lot has welcomed us in to our greatest days and faithfully stood strong under us as we left on the hardest days. It's humbly soaked up our melted ice cream and popsicles from all our celebrations and parties. It's been trampled and shoveled and spit on, and yet it's stood there- faithfully ready to be whatever it needed to be to serve our growing community.
We need a bigger parking lot which suddenly seems like an invitation to welcome in a new faithful friend, a sacred and holy space, a cozy new member of the family.
In full transparency, we don't know how this all plays out but we do know that we need money to move forward. To join us in our quest to honor our current parking lot and make space for new growth would you consider making a financial investment? You can give online or send a check in the mail. All donations are tax deductible and will be stewarded with all the passion we have.
